This semester, Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Services is continuing to offer virtualprograms and workshops, including those created to target pandemic-specific challenges.
Among the 3D printers throughout the room, Vincent Fitzpatrick, a postdoctoral biomedical researcher at Tufts University, holds up a gray unassuming piece of plastic, crisscrossed with a cage-like structure. Hidden beneath a series of support structures that have yet to be removed, he explains, lies a perfect replica of a patient’s bone — assembled from data isolated from a CT scan so that it would have a Cinderella-like fit if surgically implanted.
On Oct. 25, the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life announced that Kenann McKenzie, educator and civic leader,will direct the newly created Generous Listening and Dialogue (GLAD) Center. The GLAD Center was established this May andintended to "serve as a hub and educational resource for the Tufts University community to promote authentic dialogue and generous listening across differences."
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life hosted Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Nov. 17. She discussed the recent release of her memoir, a recent uptick in violence against Asian Americans and her experience during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. She also brought to the discussion her story as one of the first women to fly combat missions while serving in the Iraq war, her experience co-founding the Senate's first environmental justice caucus and her status as the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office.
Movies, TV shows, music albums, hotels, restaurants and many other things have rating systems that can help consumers decide which product is best for them. Foods are no exception.
NASA plans to launch a spacecraft this week that, in late 2022, will intentionally crash into an asteroid, hopefully changing its trajectory. Planetary defense research has been conducted over the past several years in hopes of preventing foreseeable meteor crashes. Although scientists believe massive meteorites do not pose a significant Armageddon-level threat in the next few centuries, smaller astrological debris can be just as deadly, with the potential to decimate entire cities like Manhattan.
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts released a studytitled “Protests, Politics, and Power: Exploring the Connections Between Youth Voting and Youth Movements” on Oct. 4. The study detailed a nuanced relationship between youth activist movements and youth voting patterns.
Fletcher School Ph.D. student Hengrui Liu presented his research on China’s emission trading system on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at an in-person seminar in the Fletcher School's Crowe Room.Liu concluded that China’s implementation of an emission trading system was unsuccessful, prompting audience questions about whether a successful implementation is possible.
Student Life sent out a campus wide email informing the Tufts community about the rise of seasonal illnesses as well as cases of norovirus, influenza, mono, and strep throat on November 5th.
Medford Director of Veterans Services Michael Durham has been reinstated afterbeing placed on administrative leave on Sept. 17. According to a notice emailed to Durham on Oct. 15, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn authorized his reinstatement after Dr. Joseph Begany found him psychologically fit for duty.
Tufts Mock Trial hosted its 14th annual Mumbo Jumbo Invitational tournament in the Science and Engineering Complex on the weekend of Oct. 30. The tournament attracted a number of schools from all over the country, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, MIT, Cornell, Northwestern and UCLA.
Doug Foy, an environmental advocate and businessman, sat down with Tina Woolston, director of the Office of Sustainability at Tufts, to discuss climate change at the final Tisch College Civic Life Lunch of the semester, titled “Extreme Weather, Climate Change & the Fight for Environmental Change,” on Nov. 10.
COVID-19 vaccination rates in Tufts University’s surrounding Medford and Somerville communities have plateaued recently, despite remaining high compared to others in the state. As of Nov. 11, 79% of Medford residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, compared with 77% as of Oct. 28. In Somerville, 85% of residents have received at least one dose, compared with 82% in October. Only Somerville remains above the state’s single-dose vaccination rate of 83%.
Faculty from the Departments of Economics and Computer Science this month are moving into the university’s newest academic facility at the intersection of Boston and College Avenues. Construction of the $90 million building is set to wrap up in the coming weeks after weathering anon-site worker injury and apandemic-induced delay since crews first broke ground more than two years ago.
A recent study analyzed drawings done by five orangutans in a Japanese zoo and found that the drawings — especially those of one orangutan, Molly —correlate with environmental factors like seasons, daily life events and even changes in keeper identity. In total, 790 orangutan drawings were studied, 656 of which were chosen randomly from those done by Molly.Researchers found differences in color preferences that related to the current season; the orangutans tended to use purple in the spring and green in the summer and winter. In addition, Molly used more red in her drawings when another orangutan in a separate location was giving birth. The content and patterns of the drawings also changed in relation to more mundane, daily events in Molly’s life. These included new art supplies on one day, when an elementary school class visited on another and the change of her keeper once over the course of the experiment.
The Tufts Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion recently announced its plans to form a new on-campus identity center for students who identify as Indigenous and Native American. The creation of the center was among the recommendations of the Compositional Diversity Workstream that took place this past February. The creation process will be led by Ellise LaMotte, who started her tenure as associate dean in the division of student diversity, inclusion, and success on Nov. 1.
Tufts Dining reimplemented its reusable takeout container program on Nov. 1 that had first beenlaunched in 2019 in the Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie dining centers , and stopped Dining2GO due to low participation. Both programs serve as ways for students to eat outside of the dining halls while also reducing food waste, Patti Klos, director of Dining and Business Services, said.
The Tufts Community Union Senate heard supplementary funding requests and discussed an upcoming resolution in a meeting on Sunday, Nov. 14. After a brief roll call and committee updates, TCU Treasurer and Class of 2022 Senator Elizabeth Hom introduced six supplementary funding requests.
Tufts University President Anthony Monaco and Vice President for Human Resources Kim Ryanannounced the winners of the Tufts Distinction Awards and the David J. Kahle Leadership Award in an email to Tufts faculty and staff on Oct. 20. Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center is one of the teams that won the award, and its current staff members arelisted on the webpage as recipients and received letters of recognition. However, several workers who worked at Dewick — the only dining location operational after Tufts evacuated its campus in late March 2020 — last spring and summer, have expressed discontent with how the recipients were selected since moving to other locations.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has the potential to reduce cases of cervical cancer by 87% and prevent certain cervical abnormalities by 97%, according to a British study recently published in The Lancet. Researchers examined women a decade after their HPV vaccinations and found that there was a reduction in pre-cancerous growths as well as cervical cancer. In 2006, the FDA approved the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, and since then, two other HPV vaccines have been developed and over 100 countries have incorporated the HPV vaccine into their regular inoculation schedules.
